The Hollowing
by Serrafina
Summary: The crew spends the night on a planet with an unusual tradition known as the Hollowing. Postshow, preBDM. KayleeSimon centric. Halloween!fic


The Hollowing

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or anything else from the FireflyVerse.

Setting: Between the show and the movie, and after the comics. Book and Inara have both told Mal they are going to leave, but they're still on the ship.

AN: This was written for Challenge 9 on buffyworld. Thanks to Sara for being my unofficial beta!

* * *

The restaurant was crowded but clean, bursting at the seams when the crew of Serenity walked in. 

"Table for six," Mal told the snooty-looking man who approached them. "Suddenly feelin' under dressed," Mal muttered to the crew, taking in the high-class clientele of the establishment.

"Think we can stay out of a fight for the evening, sir?" Zoe muttered back.

"Yeah, we might enjoy a pleasant evening for once," Wash added. "I give you two gunshots at most."

Before Mal could reply, the waiter returned with a napkin over his arm and six leather-bound menus in his hand. He smoothly ushered them to a large round table, and set a menu before each of them. Simon sighed, relaxing back into the chair while beside him, Kaylee ran her hands over the silver utensils, the painted chopsticks, and the leather-bound menu.

"What is this?" she breathed in astonishment.

"Best restaurant this side of the world," Wash answered cheerfully as Zoe tucked the corner of his napkin under his collar with a small smile.

"Sure is nice havin' money," Mal added. "That was one shiny catch."

"Shiny?" Jayne said incredulously. "That was the best gorram job in weeks. Finally, some real food. And I wouldn't mind gettin' some of that." He leered at the girls dancing on stage.

"No, I meant this," Kaylee said, pointing to the item in question.

"That's the menu," Simon said, confused.

"Oh!" she said, her eyes widening slightly before she eagerly opened it and began perusing its contents, awed at the number of options flickering across the screen. "I ain't never seen one of these before. Bet Inara has. Maybe she's even lookin' at one right now."

"Don't think them clients pay her to look at some book," Jayne scoffed. "Unless rich folks is weird. Sure ain't what I'd be doin' with a woman like her."

"Jayne," Mal snapped, "Bizui."

"Aw Mal, I weren't . . ."

Everyone but Kaylee looked up as an old man climbed onto the stage and a hush fell over the restaurant.

"As you all know," he began in a thin but clear voice, "tonight is _that night_. Tonight we will remember that we are not alone."

Kaylee looked up from the menu. "Tzuh muh luh?" she asked innocently.

As the waiter passed by, Mal gestured for his attention. "If you'd be so kind," he said quietly when the man knelt beside their table, "what happens tonight?"

The man glanced from side to side before turning back to Mal. "The Hollowing," he whispered harshly before rising and hurrying away.

"All those who wish to take part, the ceremony will begin in the cemetery at the usual time," the man on stage finished, stepping down from the platform.

"Because that doesn't sound creepifying," Wash mused.

"Oh, I think it sounds like fun," Kaylee protested. "Don't ya wanna participate in the local traditions? We could all go, I mean 'Nara's off with her client, and River'd have to stay on Serenity with the Shepherd, but the rest of us could go, right?"

"Hell no!" Jayne said vehemently. "I ain't prancin' around with some hillfolks wanna celebrate some ruttin' holiday. Not when I got enough pay to have every woman in this town."

"You're going to spend all of your wages on prostitutes?" Simon said, disgust twisting his features. "No wonder you're poor."

"Least I can get me a woman," Jayne snapped back.

"By paying her," Simon replied in astonishment.

"What a romantic discussion!" Wash said to Jayne who was snarling at the doctor.

"Wash? Zoe? Cap'n?" Kaylee asked, turning to the others.

"I think we'll sit this one out," Zoe said calmly.

"Yeah," Wash agreed, slipping one arm around her waist, "we try to stay away from the local religions. They tend to be weird. There could be geese."

Everybody, his wife included, gave Wash a strange look, but he shrugged complacently.

"Well, what about you, Cap'n?"

All eyes turned to Mal who shifted uncomfortably in his seat, tugging at the sleeves of his brown coat. "I got . . . captain-y things to do on the ship." Kaylee scowled at his flimsy excuse. "'Sides," he continued, "anythin' goin' down in a grave yard don't sound like a barrel o' laughs to me. But you two crazy kids go on and commune with the dead, if that's what tweaks your fancy."

Kaylee turned her bright eyes to Simon, who looked up, startled.

"Well, I mean, I," he stammered, "I thought I should stay with River, but–"

"Don't you worry none about her," Kaylee assured him, "I'm sure she's fine with Shepherd Book."

"That's right, Doc," Mal cut in, "so why don't you two go on and have yourselves a fun time off the ship?"

An impatient cough from behind Mal drew all of their attention to the waiter. "May I take your order?"

"Filet Mignon, please," Simon said.

"Beef," Jayne grunted, eliciting a disgruntled look from the prim waiter.

The waiter listened attentively to each of their orders, though the slightly offended look never left his face.

"What's that orange thing those folks over there is eatin'?" Kaylee asked when he got around to her.

The man looked where she was pointing then turned back to her. "That would be the pumpkin."

Her mouth opened and she stared disbelievingly at the waiter. "Well gosh, that's what I want! A real _pumpkin_," she gushed as the waiter stalked off, "like the ones Shepherd told me about!"

---

"Stop hiding it."

Book's eyebrows drew together as he regarded the girl. "What should I stop hiding, River?"

"You put it away all you want but it's still there, still waiting."

He placed his Bible on the table and his hands on top of it, looking forward in his seat. "What is waiting?"

"Snow, monster waiting in the snow," she muttered, her hands moving to her face. "Can't think, can't hear, too much whispering, all saying we're still broken. The epanadiplosis won't change that."

Book looked around the mess hall, empty except for the two of them. "River, there's nothing here. No one is going to hurt you."

She peeked up at him through her fingers and said, quite calmly, "Stop confusing the issue."

---

"Now wasn't that nice?" Kaylee said as the crew stepped out of the restaurant and into the clear night air. "We all had real food, the kind that ain't just molded protein, and nobody got punched. And the pumpkin! I never seen food so _squishy_ before."

"Squishiness aside, it wasn't exactly what I had in mind," Wash griped. "Little crowded for my taste." Zoe smiled at him, stepping closer to her husband, their fingers entwined.

"You'll have time for that later," Mal told the pair. "We're parked on this rock for two days."

"You know," Simon began to Kaylee who was walking beside him, "I read once on the Cortex that back on Earth-That-Was, people used to use pumpkins as objects of worship or fear. They carved faces into them instead of eating them."

She wrinkled her nose slightly. "Now that's a funny thing to do; I mean to say, the thing _tasted_ so darn good."

Simon couldn't help grinning at such a description of the food he had seen served as an hors d'oeuvre countless times on Osiris.

Kaylee continued, oblivious to Simon's amusement. "Maybe the chef did somethin' special those folks never thought of to make it jiggle like that. I poked it and it just went _boing_ like, I don't know, an elastic mushroom or somethin'."

"You keep talkin' about elastic mushrooms, won't nobody be lookin' twice at River," Mal said, squinting at Kaylee.

"S'all we need," Jayne grumbled, "another moonbrain."

---

"River," Book tried again, struggling to keep the exasperation out of his voice, "what is the issue? What are you afraid of?"

"I used to dream of monsters in the dark."

"There are no monsters here," he assured her. "It's just you and me on the ship."

She gave him that look again, that look that said he was being very stupid. "Don't reconfuse the issue. Monsters aren't out here," she said with a slight shake of her head as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Monsters are waiting in the dark behind your eyelids, waiting and whispering, saying—" she bit off the last words and when she looked up at him again, there was a sickening clarity in her eyes.

He set his Bible on the table and took her hands in his own, trying to offer her whatever comfort he could.

"You know where the monsters are," she said, her voice low and dangerous. "You know who the monsters are, no matter how they hide."

Book shuddered at her words and suddenly he felt _old_. His eyes that were now looking at a damaged girl had seen too much, and his hands that were now holding hers had done too much. As soon as he thought this, she jerked away from him, pulling her hands from his grasp and clutching fistfuls of hair.

"Call me a monster!" she shrieked with sudden anger, leaping to her feet and running out of the mess hall. "I am a monster! I am a monster!"

"River!" he called desperately, his boots thudding after her bare feet.

He caught up to her in the cargo bay. She was standing on the walkway, her hands resting lightly on the railing and her eyes fixed on the closed threshold.

"You should cut your hair off," she told him, all traces of her earlier panic gone.

He sighed deeply, but couldn't help feeling relieved that at least they were back on familiar ground. "I've told you before, it's one of the rules of my order."

She turned to him, a giddy smile lighting up her face. "One night of the year for dressing up in costumes. You've already got yours."

"I think you'll find it's _not_ a costume," he said, forcing his voice to be even and confident.

"Not that, silly. The Book."

"Hey there, Shepherd," Mal's voice crackled over the intercom, "mind lettin' us in?"

Book stepped slowly away from River, who smiled slyly at him, then turned to dance down the stairs. He made his way down to the floor and punched in the command to open the door. The ramp slid smoothly to the ground as the starlight poured into the ship. Mal, Jayne, and Kaylee moved to greet Book; Zoe and Wash, after a brief "hello," hurried to their own bunk, much to Jayne's amusement; and Simon walked slowly to where his sister stood, removed from the others but looking on with a slight smile.

"Hello, mei mei," he said softly, drawing her out of her reverie.

"Five for a party," she murmured just as Jayne barked out a laugh in response to something the Shepherd had said. "Two for tea, and one for me."

"River?"

"Simon?" she replied, mocking his tone.

"River, Kaylee wants me to . . . she wants me to go to an event in the town with her. This place is fairly removed from Alliance influence, but . . ."

"I'll have a private party," she interrupted him.

"What?"

"You go; have the time of your life with the party of five."

"I'll ask Shepherd Book to look in on you," he said, choosing to ignore her enigmatic speech. "Will you two be alright?"

River looked across the cargo bay to where Shepherd Book stood, conversing quietly with Mal. As she watched, Jayne tightened his belt, securing his holstered gun and sheathed knife, then stepped out into the night in search of prostitutes. Mal turned away from Book and Kaylee, making his way up the stairs and out of the cargo bay. Shepherd Book looked up and his eyes met River's across the wide room.

"I will be fine," she said. "Now go, and don't be a boob this time."

River backed away from her stunned brother, laughing, just as Kaylee approached.

"Everything all right?" she asked him.

"I, um," he began hesitantly, still staring after River, "I guess so." River raised one eyebrow and jerked her head at Kaylee. Simon turned to her and hesitantly held out his arm, which she eagerly took. He walked down the ramp with her, only looking back to his sister and Shepherd Book once.

---

Simon shivered as they stood in front of the gate to the graveyard. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Come on, Simon," Kaylee pleaded. "We went through all that bother just to find this place, what with gettin' all turned about, and lookin' for directions . . . we gotta at least take a peek."

"We don't even know what this thing is," Simon protested. "We have _no idea_."

"Well sure," Kaylee said, sidling closer to him, "that's what makes it fun! 'Sides, we don't have to go to the ceremony, or whatever it is. We could just walk . . . the two of us . . . alone."

Simon couldn't help smiling as she looked up at him with that innocently suggestive smile, the whites of her eyes seeming to glow with starlight.

She took his hand in her own, and together they stepped through the wrought iron entryway as he tried to suppress his uneasiness.

The night air was cool against their skin as they moved through the rows of tombstones.

"Careful," Kaylee said suddenly, tugging on his hand.

He jumped, and looked at her with startled eyes.

"Wouldn't want to walk on somebody's grave," she explained

He smiled tentatively and tried to calm the pounding of his heart as he followed her lead. They wove between graves, hand-in-hand, until Kaylee abruptly stopped beneath the skeletal branches of a pale white tree.

"What is it?" Simon said anxiously.

She released his hand and turned around to face him. "I don't think we're gonna find them folks. Which means there ain't no one here but us," she said, smiling slyly, "and no one's expectin' us back for a coupla hours."

Simon stared at her wide eyes, flushed cheeks, and teasing smile. His head dipped forward, inch by inch, until he could feel her breath on his lips.

A twig snapped behind them and he gave a small yelp of surprise, spinning around and grabbing Kaylee's shoulders.

The _thing_ lifted its nose from the ground and gazed at them with cold, beady black eyes nestled amongst wild, frizzy white fur.

"What is that?" Simon murmured.

Kaylee tried to suppress her frustration at yet another lost opportunity as she felt his breath whispering across her neck. She stepped resolutely forward, breaking contact with him, and knelt in front of the strange animal.

"Well hello," she said, scratching it behind the ears. It made soft sounds of satisfaction and rubbed its face against her leg. "Aw, she's a sweetie. I think she's a dog."

Simon continued to stare at the bundle of tangled white fur. "I think it's a poodle," he said after a moment. "A wild poodle, now I have seen everything."

The dog suddenly went stiff and motionless against Kaylee, then scampered away, disappearing into the dark graveyard. Simon moved to stand beside Kaylee as she got to her feet.

"Do you want to . . ." he began, placing one hand on her shoulder.

She turned her face slightly but did not look at him. Silently, she shrugged his hand away and marched off after the dog.

". . . go after it?" Simon finished to himself as he followed her, confusion etched across his face.

She came to a halt at the top of a slight rise in the cemetery, and Simon narrowly avoided bumping into her. His breath caught in his throat as he saw why she had stopped. The dog, despite its white fur, seemed to have been swallowed by the darkness.

Five figures stood amidst the tombstones, practically glowing in the night. Each was as pale as a ghost and as still as a statue.

Kaylee slipped her hand into Simon's, and he stared for a moment down at their intertwined fingers. She took one jerky step forward, then another. Simon joined her and, still gripping each other's hands tightly, they made their way down the gentle incline. They stopped behind another tree, and cautiously poked their heads around it.

They stared, entranced, at the tableau before them. The five figures were as pale as the moonlight, clothed all in loose white robes, with chalky powder rubbed into their skin and hair.

"Ai-yah, tyen-ah," Kaylee swore under her breath.

As soon as the words left her mouth, the five white people moved as one, taking a solemn step forward, then lunging to the side.

Simon heard Kaylee gasp beside him. He hardly dared to breathe.

The figures moved again, straightening, taking another step forward, and this time lunging to the other side.

The bizarre procession continued in this fashion for several minutes that seemed to stretch into hours, as Kaylee and Simon remained as silent and still behind the tree as humanly possible.

Simon felt the rough bark scraping against his cheek, and Kaylee's shivering form against his side. The temperature seemed plunge with every step the procession took. His neck and shoulders were beginning to ache from the awkward position, craning around the tree trunk. While the strange, colorless people were lunging in the other direction, he began to retreat behind the tree trunk.

A bird burst out of the branches above them, and Kaylee and Simon jumped from behind the tree, hearts pounding wildly in their ears. The five figures sensed the movement and spun around, breaking their pattern and finally looking straight at Kaylee and Simon.

He felt the world drop away as he stared into their faces. Where eyes should have been was the emptiness of space, of the deepest darkness at the furthest edges of the Black. As he gazed into the abyss, he felt as though he could see centuries, eons of people gazing back at him. Doctors, mechanics, criminals and tyrants, heroes and normal people. They pierced flesh and bone and laid bare the deepest recesses of his soul.

---

Dawn was breaking when Kaylee and Simon stumbled back into the world of the living. They left behind them a cemetery, empty except for the dead. The grass was trampled, as though by hundreds of feet, within what observers from the sky might recognize as the pattern of a five-pointed star.

When the shell-shocked duo returned to Serenity, they were greeted by an expectant crew, just sitting down to breakfast.

Kaylee's gaze ticked over each in turn as she and Simon sat down, finally settling on the empty place at the table. "Inara ain't back yet?"

"The ambassador has not graced us with her presence yet today," Mal replied, clearly in a foul mood.

"Should be docking soon," Wash explained. "Which means I have to eat quick, and you," he pointed at Kaylee and Simon, "have to _tell_ quick."

Simon paused in the middle of serving himself. "Tell?"

"You know, tell?" Wash said. "That thing where you talk about your rollicking adventures?"

Simon looked at Kaylee. They held each other's gaze for a long moment, then turned back to the crew.

"I have no idea what that was," Simon said finally.

"The Hollowing," Kaylee added slowly. "That's what it was."

"What lesson have we learned from this?" Wash said, eyeing the pair sternly. They looked at him blankly, and he answered his own question. "Local traditions are weird and creepifying."

---

Wash went to the bridge to get ready for takeoff, and the crew went their separate ways. When Inara brought her shuttle in, Kaylee went to greet her while Simon talked with River in the hall.

"Hey there 'Nara," Kaylee said, trying to be cheerful.

"Hello," Inara replied, stepping out of her shuttle, a small bundle in her arms. "I hope Mal stayed out of trouble while I was gone."

A strange look passed over Kaylee's face for a moment. "Oh sure, the Cap'n's fine. Whatcha got there?"

"Oh, say hello to our new pet," Inara answered, placing the bundle in the mechanic's arms. "My client gave her to me. Usually I wouldn't accept such generous parting gifts, but something about her just called out to me. Isn't she adorable?"

Kaylee smiled as she cradled the little ball of carefully groomed white fuzz. It lifted its head and regarded her with beady black eyes, and her smile began to slip as she saw something terribly familiar in that gaze.

"I, um, I have to go take care of something," she stammered out, letting the creature slip to the ground. She turned and rushed across the walkway, passing a surprised Mal.

"Well, that was unexpected," he said, watching the mechanic hurry away from them. "You scare her away with your new . . . whatever in the sphincter of hell that is?" He stared at the little dog that was now sniffing his leg.

---

Kaylee rushed through the ship to find Simon. As she approached the doctor, River looked at her knowingly and walked away.

"Kaylee," he said, surprised. "Did you–"

"I have something to say."

---

Inara walked stiffly past Mal and bent down, gracefully gathered the little dog into her arms. "It's a poodle." She straightened and approached him, but he turned away. "Mal," she said softly, drawing his gaze to her. She let the animal slip out of her arms and it scampered away, running off to explore its new environs. "What's going on with you?"

---

"You just . . ." Kaylee began, searching for the right words to voice her vexation. "I mean, I know you like me, and I like you, but you won't _do anything_. Always gotta be so stiff and proper when there ain't nobody cares 'bout that out here. I mean, is there something you're scared of? Do you not want this?" She gestured at herself and the ship around them.

"It's not," he tried awkwardly, stepping forward, but she was not done yet.

---

"Can you . . ." Mal struggled to find the right words. How could she stand there and pretend she didn't know? "Can you stop being scary for a minute? Just – just tell . . ." He paced the narrow walkway, avoiding her eyes. "Just tell me what the hell that gorram thing is doing on my boat? You expect me to truck that around?"

"We don't have to keep it," Inara reasoned. "I'll give it away on the next planet. You won't even know it was ever here."

---

"I mean, you almost – we just went through _that_," Kaylee continued, "and you're just so – you always . . . Are you trying to torture me?" she wailed.

Simon silenced her the only way he could think of.

---

Silence stretched between them until Mal finally broke it, his voice tense and strangled.

"Next planet's Haven." Now it was said, and there could be no more pretending, he hoped.

Inara looked down. "Oh . . ." She struggled to regain her composure as he finally met her gaze. "Well, I'm sure it – she – will be very happy. On Haven."

Mal made no sound or expression, just brushed right past her and strode angrily through the ship. He turned a corner and came to a dead stop at the sight before him.

"Da-shiang bao-tza shr duh lah doo-tze!" he swore.

In the middle of the hall, Kaylee and Simon did not hear his cursing, for they were too caught up in the kiss.

The End

Chinese translations:

Tzuh muh luh: what's going on

Bizui: shut up

mei mei: little sister

Ai-yah. Tyen-ah: Merciless hell

Da-shiang bao-tza shr duh lah doo-tze: The explosive diarrhea of an elephant.


End file.
